Using the software available: An action research project to increase use of software programs purchased at Woodlawn Elementary School. By Jason Mansfield
Today’s educational software market is flooded programs to educate our students on various subjects. These programs come at a huge cost to our schools and many times are not used. At Woodlawn Elementary we have purchased several software programs with use of Title 1 money. Each of these programs cost in the $1,000’s. During a 2010-2011 budget meeting with our campus ITA and principal, we had a discussion about the use of these programs and if we are getting our money’s worth. While reviewing data available with the software programs we realized only about 15% of our teachers where consistently using the software. We also realized that after a meeting regarding a specific software program, usage would go up, but then drop off within 2 weeks. We decided this was not a good use of the money spent and had a discussion as to how to fix this. We realized the biggest issue was training. We purchased these programs and introduced them in quick training segments during monthly staff meetings. There had never been any meaningful trainings or demonstrations done for the teachers. This is what led to me developing my action plan. The idea is to create a training method that will increase usage of the programs and make teachers more comfortable incorporating them into their lesson plans.
Our overall goal was to increase the usage of the software programs to increase student achievement on standardized test. To do this we decided that we cannot train all the teachers in one huge group. We also had to take into consideration the reluctance many teachers have when incorporating new technologies into their lesson plans. Because of this we decided to start with a small group of teachers that are willing to learn a specific software program and work with their grade in helping them incorporate it into their classroom. Before they where to start working with their grade they would have to successfully demonstrate usage and student learning with the software programs. This would give backing and justification for the use of the software to teachers that where reluctant. The bigger vision of this is to have teachers using technology 50% of the time with their lessons. Also to fully utilize the tools we have available to us to increase test scores.
This project developed at the same time I was in the graduate course EDLD 5301 Research. The book, Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher stated in regard to action research, “By cultivating this inquiry stance toward practice, principals and teachers play a critical role in enhancing their own professional growth and ultimately the experience of schooling for children.” This stood at to me considering we were in the middle of meeting about how to fix the issue low software use. I took the idea of action research to my principal and shared that what we need to accomplish is not just a one time decision. We agreed it would take a lot of learning and tweaking on our part to get it right. We also came to the decision that our plan we continually evolve and change depending on the software or teachers we worked with. The basic idea of the action research project could be used, but would have to be changed to fit with the need. A majority of the meetings regarding the decision making process involved the principal, ITA, and I. We came to our decision on how to accomplish our task through discussion between ourselves and consulting with the district’s IT team.
We decided early on that we would not just throw this on the staff and surprise them. Instead we chose to identify a few select individuals that would be willing to help their grade level in incorporating the chosen software program. This school year we held two separate technology trainings. During these trainings we identified individuals that stood at as being proficient and also offered suggestions as to how to incorporate the training into our classrooms. We met and created a list of 5 teachers to assist us. Our plan is to choose the software program that benefits all grades in the school the most and then start the training with those teachers. Once we had achieved success with that group we were going to introduce the program to the teachers and staff. We also plan to introduce what we are doing at a PTA meeting. This is to give information on the software programs to the parents and to give them a list of any websites related to it so that they would allow their children to access them.
The individuals in charge of the plan would be the principal, ITA, and I. The original group of teachers to take part in the training are also very important. They are going be offering feedback, giving ideas, and demonstrating different strategies in regard to the software used. After they successfully complete the plan, they will be in charge of the training and service at their grade level. Much of our plan revolves constant feedback from all participants. We are in the process of creating several surveys to give out at different stages of the plan. This will help us evolve the plan to better cater to the teachers and student’s needs. We also plan on holding several meetings during planning times to discuss progress.
Overall our goal is to give students options in how they choose to learn. Our school community has a very diverse background. Many of our students live below the poverty line and many live in a private exclusive country club. We also have inclusion of special education students in the classroom so we need to differentiate our instruction. By offering multiple options for learning we can address the needs of all students. Educational software programs add one more options to their list of learning tools. Another benefit of educational software programs is teachers can adjust the difficulty level. I can have two students on two separate computers learning the same concept at their cognitive level. Our school has several great software programs that can accomplish this, but a majority of the teachers are scared to use them, don’t know how, or put a wall up against technology. By creating a method to train our teachers on software we can help them address the various needs of their students.
As of today my action research plan is temporarily on hold. My principal resigned last week and I have recently been reassigned from 5th grade science to 7th grade reading at a new school. I have already talked with my new principal and we will be starting up my action research plan at the very beginning of this school year. I will need to start all over again in finding teachers to participate. Some of the changes we have talked about are picking a grade level team to start the action research plan with rather then a teacher from each grade. Most likely my seventh grade reading team is where we will start. Once they learn how to incorporate the software, we can work vertically and help the 6th and 8th grade reading teams incorporate the same software programs at their grade levels.
References:
Dana, N.F. (2009). Leadingwith passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher.Thousand Oaks,California: Corwin.
Using the software available:
An action research project to increase use of software programs purchased at Woodlawn Elementary School.
By Jason Mansfield
Today’s educational software market is flooded programs to educate our students on various subjects. These programs come at a huge cost to our schools and many times are not used. At Woodlawn Elementary we have purchased several software programs with use of Title 1 money. Each of these programs cost in the $1,000’s. During a 2010-2011 budget meeting with our campus ITA and principal, we had a discussion about the use of these programs and if we are getting our money’s worth. While reviewing data available with the software programs we realized only about 15% of our teachers where consistently using the software. We also realized that after a meeting regarding a specific software program, usage would go up, but then drop off within 2 weeks. We decided this was not a good use of the money spent and had a discussion as to how to fix this. We realized the biggest issue was training. We purchased these programs and introduced them in quick training segments during monthly staff meetings. There had never been any meaningful trainings or demonstrations done for the teachers. This is what led to me developing my action plan. The idea is to create a training method that will increase usage of the programs and make teachers more comfortable incorporating them into their lesson plans.
Our overall goal was to increase the usage of the software programs to increase student achievement on standardized test. To do this we decided that we cannot train all the teachers in one huge group. We also had to take into consideration the reluctance many teachers have when incorporating new technologies into their lesson plans. Because of this we decided to start with a small group of teachers that are willing to learn a specific software program and work with their grade in helping them incorporate it into their classroom. Before they where to start working with their grade they would have to successfully demonstrate usage and student learning with the software programs. This would give backing and justification for the use of the software to teachers that where reluctant. The bigger vision of this is to have teachers using technology 50% of the time with their lessons. Also to fully utilize the tools we have available to us to increase test scores.
This project developed at the same time I was in the graduate course EDLD 5301 Research. The book, Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher stated in regard to action research, “By cultivating this inquiry stance toward practice, principals and teachers play a critical role in enhancing their own professional growth and ultimately the experience of schooling for children.” This stood at to me considering we were in the middle of meeting about how to fix the issue low software use. I took the idea of action research to my principal and shared that what we need to accomplish is not just a one time decision. We agreed it would take a lot of learning and tweaking on our part to get it right. We also came to the decision that our plan we continually evolve and change depending on the software or teachers we worked with. The basic idea of the action research project could be used, but would have to be changed to fit with the need. A majority of the meetings regarding the decision making process involved the principal, ITA, and I. We came to our decision on how to accomplish our task through discussion between ourselves and consulting with the district’s IT team.
We decided early on that we would not just throw this on the staff and surprise them. Instead we chose to identify a few select individuals that would be willing to help their grade level in incorporating the chosen software program. This school year we held two separate technology trainings. During these trainings we identified individuals that stood at as being proficient and also offered suggestions as to how to incorporate the training into our classrooms. We met and created a list of 5 teachers to assist us. Our plan is to choose the software program that benefits all grades in the school the most and then start the training with those teachers. Once we had achieved success with that group we were going to introduce the program to the teachers and staff. We also plan to introduce what we are doing at a PTA meeting. This is to give information on the software programs to the parents and to give them a list of any websites related to it so that they would allow their children to access them.
The individuals in charge of the plan would be the principal, ITA, and I. The original group of teachers to take part in the training are also very important. They are going be offering feedback, giving ideas, and demonstrating different strategies in regard to the software used. After they successfully complete the plan, they will be in charge of the training and service at their grade level. Much of our plan revolves constant feedback from all participants. We are in the process of creating several surveys to give out at different stages of the plan. This will help us evolve the plan to better cater to the teachers and student’s needs. We also plan on holding several meetings during planning times to discuss progress.
Overall our goal is to give students options in how they choose to learn. Our school community has a very diverse background. Many of our students live below the poverty line and many live in a private exclusive country club. We also have inclusion of special education students in the classroom so we need to differentiate our instruction. By offering multiple options for learning we can address the needs of all students. Educational software programs add one more options to their list of learning tools. Another benefit of educational software programs is teachers can adjust the difficulty level. I can have two students on two separate computers learning the same concept at their cognitive level. Our school has several great software programs that can accomplish this, but a majority of the teachers are scared to use them, don’t know how, or put a wall up against technology. By creating a method to train our teachers on software we can help them address the various needs of their students.
As of today my action research plan is temporarily on hold. My principal resigned last week and I have recently been reassigned from 5th grade science to 7th grade reading at a new school. I have already talked with my new principal and we will be starting up my action research plan at the very beginning of this school year. I will need to start all over again in finding teachers to participate. Some of the changes we have talked about are picking a grade level team to start the action research plan with rather then a teacher from each grade. Most likely my seventh grade reading team is where we will start. Once they learn how to incorporate the software, we can work vertically and help the 6th and 8th grade reading teams incorporate the same software programs at their grade levels.
References:
Dana, N.F. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher.Thousand Oaks,California: Corwin.